Europe completes second instrument for James Webb Space Telescope

An artist's impression of the James Webb Space Telescope observing the Universe.

Northrop Grumman

The European Space Agency (ESA) has completed the second of two
instruments it is contributing to the next great orbiting
observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope.

It is called the Near-Infrared Spectrograph, or NIRSpec, and was
assembled for ESA by aerospace giant Astrium GmbH in Germany. Last
year, the first European contribution, the Mid InfraRed Instrument
(MIRI) was finished and delivered to Nasa.

They are two of four state-of-the-art devices that will
be fed light gathered by the JWST's vast 6.5-metre mirror to
help make new discoveries about the Universe after it is launched
by an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana in 2018.

NIRSpec will be sensitive enough to pick out the light from the
earliest stars and galaxies to form in the Universe, only about 400
million years after the Big Bang happened 13.8 billion years
ago.

It will split infrared light from these objects into a spectrum,
helping astronomers to find out their chemical make-up, physical
properties, age and distance. NIRSpec will be able to carry out its
observations on up to 100 such objects at a time.

Demonstrating its versatility, NIRSpec will also study the early
stages of starbirth across our own Milky Way galaxy, and analyse
the atmospheric properties of exoplanets orbiting other stars,
checking the potential for life to exist there.

Following rigorous testing in Europe, NIRSpec will be
transported to Nasa later this month where it will be integrated
into JWST's instrument module, ready for further tests and
calibration as the whole observatory is assembled.

Eric Smith, Nasa's Acting Program Director for JWST, said: "We
are delighted to acknowledge the completion of ESA's NIRSpec and
excited to have it join the other Webb science instruments at
Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre."

Europe's other instrument for the JWST, MIRI, was handed over to
Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre in May last year following ten
years of development by more than 200 engineers.

MIRI is so sensitive that it could pick out a candle at the
distance of Jupiter's moons. It is one of four main experiments
that will fly on the JWST later this decade.

More than 200 engineers spent over ten years working on MIRI. It
was declared ready at a ceremony in London by the consortium that
has built it.

Made up of a camera and a spectrometer, it will observe at
infrared wavelengths at the extremely low temperature of -266
degrees Celsius -- just 7 degrees Celsius above absolute zero.

Alvaro Giménez, ESA's Director of Science and Robotic
Exploration, marked the latest landmark event for the new telescope
by saying: "The formal handover of NIRSpec from Astrium to ESA
marks an important and exciting milestone in Europe's contribution
to the JWST mission.

"Along with the delivery of MIRI to Nasa last year, we are
thrilled that European engineers and scientists are playing a key
role in this important international mission."

The JWST, a joint project of Nasa, ESA, and the Canadian Space
Agency, is a telescope that will focus on the infrared region of
the spectrum with its instrumentation. These "heat-seeking" devices
will be able to detect distant galaxies but also see through the
dust that blocks visible light from newborn stars.

Apart from NIRSpec and MIRI, the other two instruments will be a
near-infrared camera (NIRCam) and a combined fine guidance sensor
and near-infrared imager and slitless spectrograph
(FGS-NIRISS).

A giant sunshield will keep the observatory and its instruments
chilled to -233 degrees Celsius to allow them to operate for up to
ten years.

The JWST has become a controversial instrument because costs
have greatly overrun the initial budget. Many scientists complain
that money for other Nasa missions has had to be cut back to
support it.

But it is set to be a mighty successor to Hubble when it reaches
its remote place in space 1.5 million kilometres beyond Earth's own
orbit around the Sun at a gravitationally stable point known as
L2.

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